Research Area: Building Enclosures

Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems

Dr. Peter Engelmann of the Fraunhofer CSE Building Energy Efficiency Team assesses a high-performance family home.

Evaluating Enclosures and Enclosure Components

The Building Enclosures Program works to evaluate the performance of building enclosures and their components. This research program tests and analyzes novel building materials, modern building envelope systems, and hybrid dynamic building enclosures with solar components in both small-scale laboratory and field conditions.

 

Areas of Focus

Applied R&D of novel energy-efficient materials and systems, including:

  • Advanced thermal insulation and environmental barriers, e.g., aerogel insulation systems or vacuum insulation panels (VIPs)
  • Systems to control radiation heat transfer control to manage building cooling and heating loads
  • Phase change materials (PCMs)
  • Advanced ventilation strategies for building enclosures

Deployment and integration of these technologies

 

Development and testing of novel building-integrated solar systems

 

Advanced thermal and hygrothermal modeling


Whole building energy analysis


Laboratory thermal / hygrothermal testing, in-situ monitoring and performance evaluation

Recent Publications

"Arranging Insulation for Better Thermal Resistance in Concrete and Masonry Wall Systems"

B. Urban, P. Engelmann, E. Kossecka, J. Kosny

9th Nordic Symposium on Building Physics

Tampere, Finland

May 30th, 2011


"New Developments in Mitigation of Thermal Bridges Generated by Light Gauge Steel Framing Components"

P. Engelmann, J. Kosny, B. Urban

9th Nordic Symposium on Building Physics

Tampere, Finland

May 30th, 2011

 

Contact Us for Building Enclosure R&D Services

Contact

Dr. Jan Kosny
Building Enclosure Program Lead
Tel: +1 617 714-6525
jkosny@fraunhofer.org